Descripción

The Book Series on “Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies” of the Central Bank of Chile publishes new research on central banking and economics in general, with special emphasis on issues and fields that are relevant to economic policies in developing economies. The volumes are published in Spanish or English. Policy usefulness, high-quality research, and relevance to Chile and other economies are the main criteria for publishing books. Most research in this Series has been conducted in or sponsored by the Central Bank of Chile.

Book manuscripts are submitted to the Series editors for a review process with active participation by outside referees. The Series editors submit manuscripts for final approval to the Editorial Board of the Series and to the Board of the Central Bank of Chile. Publication in both paper and electronic format.

The views and conclusions presented in the book are exclusively those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Central Bank of Chile or its Board Members.

Editors:
Rodrigo Caputo
Roberto Chang

World commodity prices and their macroeconomic impact, especially on emerging economies, have long been a main concern of economic research. The importance of the topic has become even more apparent in recent years, as the world economy has seen wide swings in the world prices of primary items such as oil, food, and metals.

Echoing past debates, commodity prices are again posing difficult questions to academics and policymakers.

The questions are both positive and normative; they pertain to both the short run and the long run; and they are urgent, particularly for emerging economies that are heavily exposed to commodity price fluctuations.

To contribute to the debate, this volume gathers six studies written for the XVIII Annual Research Conference of the Central Bank of Chile. The unifying theme of the conference was to examine appropriate macroeconomic policies in light of the increased volatility of world commodity prices. The studies in this volume explore various dimensions and aspects to that theme, as well as diverse policy alternatives, instruments, and strategies.